10/11/18 Report - Florida Panhandle Area Shipwreck Survey Report. Mission Nombre de Dios. Columbus' Map. FBI Hunts Treasure?

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasuebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

As you know by now, the portions of the Florida Panhandle got hit hard by Hurricane Michael.  I have not doubt that some old things will be uncovered up around Alligator Point and Dog Island, where nice old Spanish coins have been found before.

If you want to become a little more familiar with the shipwrecks of the area, here is a link to a lengthy and  detailed archaeological report.

You will find a lot of interesting information in that report.

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In the 1950s, Father Charles Spellman, a priest and archaeologist in St. Augustine, made a historic discovery at the Mission Nombre de Dios.

Spellman uncovered the remnants of what is thought to be the first stone building and shrine dedicated to Our Lady of La Leche, a building believed to have been constructed in 1677. He discovered artifacts and made a map of the site, but he never shared his discovery with the archaeological community...

Archaeologists have rediscovered the site and will be trying to learn more about it.  Here is the link.

http://www.staugustine.com/news/20181009/mysterious-17th-century-building-being-uncovered-at-mission

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Dean R. and SuperRick sent links to this story.

The father-son duo spent years combing this bit of Pennyslvania wilderness with high-end metal detectors, drills and other tools to prospect for a fabled cache of Civil War gold. They felt certain they'd discovered the hiding place of the long-lost booty, leading the FBI to the mountainous, heavily wooded area last March.

Now, at the end of the court-sanctioned excavation, the FBI escorted the treasure hunters to the snow-covered site and asked them what they saw. They gazed at the pit. Not so much as a glimmer of gold dust, let alone the tons of precious metal they said an FBI contractor's instruments had detected.

"We were embarrassed," Dennis Parada told The Associated Press in his first interview since the well-publicized dig last winter. "They walk us in, and they make us look like dummies. Like we messed up."

Since that day, however, neighbors' accounts of late-night excavation and FBI convoys have fueled suspicions that the agency isn't telling the whole truth. The Paradas are challenging the FBI's account of the dig, insisting that something had to have been buried in the woods near Dents Run, about 135 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh..

Here is the link.


https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/09/treasure-hunters-challenge-the-fbi-over-a-dig-for-legendary-gold.html

A lot of questions to consider in this one.

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Here is an article about the map Columbus might have used.


https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture-exploration/2018/10/columbus-map-discovery-secrets-new-world/

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Well, Michael has left Florida but continues to cause problems.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

On the Treasure Coast the surf is down around two feet now, but the tides are still high.

Remember those in the Panhandle.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/26/18 Report - Early Graves. Rough Edges. Mel Fisher Days. Van Stan's Bottle. Pontil.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com.

Edges of Two Kennedy Half Dollar Coins.

It seemed that the photos of the Kennedy Half Dollar that I posted yesterday were not good enough to show what I was talking about.  Maybe this will do it.  Here are two coins: the one I was talking about yesterday as being unusual (top coin) and a more normal Kennedy half dollar for comparison (bottom coin).  You will have to look closely to notice the differences.

Notice how the edge of the bottom coin is smooth. The ridges in the copper center are filled and the surface is flat.  However on the top coin the ridges on the copper core are rounded and not filled in between.  And look closely at the thin layer of clad on top.  It is paper thin and sticks out considerably more over the valleys in between the copper ridges.  You can feel the sharpness of that thin clad layer.  The top coin also has a very slightly smaller diameter.

To sum it up, the bottom coin has a typical smooth edge, while the top coin has a very rough and sharp edge.  It appears that some material is missing.

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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – More burials of what could be St. Augustine’s first colonists have been discovered. They are within inches of where burials were found during an archeological dig in 2017.

This time, they were found while construction workers were working on Charlotte Street in downtown St. Augustine. The city archeologist was monitoring their work and ordered construction be halted as soon as a bone was found...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/st-augustine/more-colonial-burials-found-under-st-augustine-street/77-566791195

You might recall that we discussed the almost total absence of graves found on 1715 beaches, so that remains a bit of a mystery.

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This year Mel Fisher Days will be July 12 - 14 in Key West.

http://melfisherdays.melfisher.com/

Activities will include tours of the conservation lab and boat tour out to a wreck site.

There will be a fee or those activities.

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Van Stan's Stratena antique bottle.

Circa 1890.


This is a small embossed bottle for Stratena, which was an adhesive (See advertising card below.).

You can see many bubbles in the glass (right).

Van Stan's Stratena Advertising Card.

I placed this bottle along with more company information in my TGBottleBarn.blogspot.com.

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Just one more bottle related item today.  I've found very few rough or unsmoothed pontils, but this looks like one.  It is a recent find.

Pontil.

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The predictions are for a continuing one foot surf on the Treasure Coast for at least several days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net